For Love Of A Jounin
by Shakstergrrl
Summary: Sequel to A Chuunin By Any Other Name. Iruka loves Kakashi. And that's the easy part.


Title: _For Love of a Jounin_  
Genere: Romance/comedy short fic  
Rating: PG/k+ there's talk about two men having hot smex...though no smex to read I'm afraid  
Disclaimer: Not mine, I swear it.  
Characters: Iruka and Kakashi (it's a shock)  
Summary: _Iruka loves Kakashi. And that's the easy part.  
_A/N: A sequel to _A Chuunin by any Other Name. _And _shosei_ can mean both student and houseboy...which is very appropriate in this story.

_For Love of a Jounin_

Iruka loved Hatake Kakashi. It was important to get that fact out right off the bat because it was so very easy to _forget_ that point when one looked at the circumstances that made up their life together. No, he'd freely admit it, loving his jounin scarecrow certainly wasn't the easiest thing he had ever done; he'd been on B-ranked missions with less stress and turmoil involved. The pay was bad, the job itself was thankless half the time, and if he had to raise his voice once more to get that catlike shinobi lover of his to put down his book for five minutes and take the garbage out… but at the end of the day he loved the silver-haired jounin nonetheless. Unconditional love…the key to any healthy relationship, Iruka's own personal saving grace. The thing that made it possible to live with the multiple personalities and their unique quirks that resided in the tossed salad thinking system of Kakashi's brain. Because really, truly, when all the pieces came together and all was said and processed fully, there were parts of Iruka that loved his ragtag ninja boyfriend all along. He had always loved him, and anxiety medication refills willing, always would.

When the only thing they had in common had been Naruto, Iruka had been as polite as possible, bowing deeply and respectfully, even calling the jounin by the same name team seven had adopted for him, _Kaka-sensei_. Naruto had come bounding up to the academy sensei in the schoolyard and regaled him with examples of how "cool" and "amazing" his new team leader was. And it would appear Iruka's jounin friends and colleagues who had the fortune, or misfortune (depending on one's personal take) of knowing the Copy Nin personally confirmed Naruto's ravings. For the most part, at the very least. _Kaka-sensei_, despite walking about the village with his nose in pornographic literature, was genuinely a strong ally and talented sensei for Naruto. If for that reason alone, Iruka loved him.

Well, he loved him superficially of course, and only really because _Kaka-sensei_ took such good care of team seven when that C-ranked mission turned out to be an A-ranked nightmare. If only for the fact that Naruto had found someone else to acknowledge him and encourage his progress. If only because there was something a little dangerous and sexy about the man who came to the mission desk with crumpled up, unfinished reports two hours late, _Kaka-sensei_ offering no real explanation other than rubbing the back of that mop- shaped head and grinning with his one visible eye.

When the one thing they had in common, Naruto, and the rest of his genin team, had been nominated to take the Chuunin exam _Kaka-sensei_ had become _Kakashi-san_. It was this new _Kakashi-san_ who fought at the stadium during the attack on Konoha, and that same detached shinobi threat who faced off against Uchiha Itachi in the weeks following the thwarted destruction of the village. It was this very same Copy Nin, now without students to teach, who came to Iruka to personally tell him of Sasuke's defection, and Naruto's impending departure to train with Jiraiya-sama. And tried, and very much failed to get out a misplaced apology and a half- cooked explanation, and when that still didn't work ended up making a promise he had no possibility of keeping that from that moment forward he'd hand in his mission reports in a legible order and in a timely manner. And somehow, despite the summer long feeling of uneasiness between them that one conversation in late September had dissolved all the tension, had reminded Iruka why Naruto liked this rumpled jounin so much, and ended with a dinner invitation that foretold of bigger and better things and meetings under more pleasant circumstances. And if for this reason alone Iruka fell in love with him.

Well, Iruka didn't know he had fallen in love, certainly. He definitely hadn't felt it happening when the charming side of _Kakashi-san_ took over. It wasn't as if his persistent tardiness and _Icha Icha_ style romance maneuverings had been what won the academy sensei over. This strange combination of aloofness and geniality that his cyclopean Casanova exuded was at the very least, cute and intriguing, even if it did leave odd food stains in even odder places throughout Iruka's living room. And honestly, if you got right down to it whatever the hell _Kakashi-san_ did worked its jutsu on him. Of course looking back on the events, perhaps a jutsu _had_ been placed on Iruka in the first place… but he was getting ahead of himself. In the end, the brunet had tried to catch himself, that little voice of reason had been trying to get a word in edgewise, but before he really knew it, happily enough, calling his significant something _Kakashi-san_ became a little too formal for the situation, especially when there was hickey-covered bare flesh and a generous helping of sake involved. 

When the only thing that they had in common, Naruto, was no longer the only thing they had in common it became clear that since _Kashi-kun's_ things had already taken up a permanent residence in Iruka's apartment, _Kashi-kun_ should take up permanent residence as well. _Kashi-kun_, for his part, was quite a strange creature indeed. Iruka had decided that mentally cataloguing this ninja's behaviors would probably be helpful in dealing with him on a daily basis. And after a few weeks of field work the brunet shinobi could proudly say that he had learned to handle this new species of Kakashi with great success. This _Kashi-kun_ was forgetful, except when it came to sex, missions, food, and cuddling. He would need to be told more than twice to do any household job, and mentioning the chore to be executed twice at once wasn't effective. But when the jounin was being entertained properly by either his _Icha Icha_ or Iruka himself, and had heard him the third time to wash the dishes, the _Kashi-kun_ boyfriend model got Iruka's stamp of approval. And if for that alone, Iruka loved Kakashi intensely.

Well, it was an intense kind of love, with periods of intensity that didn't have much to do with anything close to love, as would be expected. After all, it was somewhat difficult at times to plaster on that big grin and go cuddle up next to his _beloved_ _Kashi-kun_ when he had already mentioned five other times previously that the washroom floor was not the appropriate place for sweaty, blood- stained clothes, even if it was the jounin's original intention to move them once he finished with his shower, moisturizer treatments, and redressing into something more comfortable for cuddling up in. Even more frustrating were times when his clever _Kashi-kun_ convinced him that they should stop sorting laundry and make more by stripping out of their current outfits, and seeing how long the headboard could bang against the wall before someone filed a complaint with the landlord. For what it was worth, _Kashi-kun_, the cuddle-hungry, grinning, ho-hum, alter ego of the stealthy Copy Nin was a loving manipulative lover who Iruka was crazy about.

When the only thing Kakashi and Naruto had in common was that they were both acting like spoiled bratty children the dreaded _Kaki-shosei_ emerged. This was the hybrid of the _Kashi-kun_ model, who wanted cuddling and attention and the _Kakashi-san_ version that was cunning but managed to do something to annoy him. Yes, the _Kaki-shosei_ monster was a force to be reckoned with. _Kaki-shosei_ got his name because one of the characters in the sacred text that was the _Icha Icha_ series had the name Kaki, and as it turned out a very similar M.O., personality, sexual deviation, and hairstyle as Iruka's live-in lover did. The _-shosei_ name, turned suffix was rather fitting since the ninja in question managed to act as whiney and needy as one of Iruka's youngest students but with the hormones of a worker at an out call massage parlor. This horny, cranky, monster was prone to attacking his victim, one Umino Iruka, from behind, pinning him to furniture and doing things that were too inappropriate to mention in normal conversation. He managed to get on Iruka's very last nerve and then needed a reprimand but somehow expected in the mist of the argument to be cuddled and praised because he had remembered to put the toilet seat lid down without being told. He was a dangerous mix of a mischievous 12 year-old boy trapped in a muscular and very capable grown-man's body. And for that reason alone Iruka would never stop loving him.

Well, there were times he temporarily suspended his loving, not surprisingly. _Kaki-shosei_ was the one who woke Iruka up at some god-awful early time in the morning with breakfast in bed on his days off, in hopes of being awarded some early morning nookie, but not being smart enough to clean up the monstrous mess that had transplanted itself all over the once-beautiful white walls of the kitchen. This devious _Kaki-shosei_ also wanted to be told he was a "bad boy and needed to be punished" when _Icha Icha_ fantasies ran away with him. And just in case the memo hadn't gotten around to everyone yet, the world _did_ stop when _Kaki-shosei_ was sick. _Kaki-shosei_ needed to be shown _again_ the right way to sort the recyclables and didn't want any looks of disappointment for his trouble, rather a sound of approval for deciding to ask instead of throwing the paper, plastic and glass all in one bin and running away very quickly. He wanted a pat on the back, an "atta boy" and if it wasn't too much trouble, milk and cookies while he finished rereading his favorite scene in _Icha Icha_ that just so happened to involve a bad student, a ruler and a sensei who's patience was just at the breaking point.

Iruka had considered publishing his research on the many unmasked faces of Kakashi in the field guide so that way other ninja who encountered the jounin knew what to do in case of emergency. For instance when _Kaka-sensei_ was asked by the administration to address the bright and impressionable students at the academy on Jounin-sensei Day they could flip to the appropriate section of the manual and realize that unless they wanted a classroom full of angry parents the following day letting _Kaka-sensei_ teach the weapons skills and tactics class with real weapons was a poor choice. And when _Kakashi-san_ finished his duty at the academy and started walking away with his face buried in some _Icha Icha,_ one quick glance in the appropriate section would warn any potential victims that unless they wanted a kunai put in a place where the sun didn't shine trying to make pointless small talk after a day spent with children dripping _stuff_ on his sandals wasn't advisable. Furthermore, flipping through the guide it would be easy to realize even if _Kashi-kun's_ one eye was rounded and smiling the chances of him not plotting someone's untimely demise once he arrived at the mission desk to find someone a little too _close_ to Iruka was very slim. Of course if anyone happened to see Iruka narrow his eyes, and mention that he wanted to speak to him alone that usually meant that the area should probably be evacuated because _Kaki-shosei_ would need to be reminded about threatening people with the sharingan again.

But enough digression. Umino Iruka loved Hatake Kakashi. Very much in fact. How much, well quite a bit, really; he'd certainly swear to it if ever interrogated on the matter, that was for certain. There were some in the village of Konoha who questioned Iruka on that very matter, not because they doubted the young sensei's feelings, but wondered how anyone could manage to coexist alongside the infamous Copy Nin with sanity and wellbeing intact. To those disbelievers he'd explain patiently that he was simply helpless. He had been helpless because he always loved Kakashi. Always would, after all, what were a few headaches and a couple of broken glasses between lovers?

AN: I wrote this several weeks after the first one…hope you liked it.


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